Removable tray for microphone stands

ABSTRACT

A removably mounted tray is clampable to a microphone stand or the like. The tray includes two pivotally attached half sections, each of which includes an indentation for receiving and engaging the stand. A latch pivotally attached to one of the half sections engages a depending flange from each half section to mate the two half sections and retain the tray clamped to the stand.

The present invention is related to trays and, more particularly, totrays detachably attachable to stands.

Trays supported upon uprights serve the function of supporting variousarticles. In example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,596,541 discloses a pole mountedtray for supporting a garbage can. The tray is of lattice constructionand has a central aperture for penetrably receiving a pole. A conduitconcentric with the pole extends part way up the pole and the endthereof bears against the underside of the tray and serves as a supportfor the tray.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,998 discloses a tray for supporting fruit. This trayincludes two half sections, each centrally apertured to a configurationcommensurate with one half of the cross-section of the supportingupright. Depending diametric flanges of each half section are bolted toone another to secure the tray upon the upright. The tray is notintended to be readily or easily removable and such removal can only beaccomplished by dismantling the tray.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,309,190 discloses a collapsible tiered tray forsupporting edible articles. The multi-tiered tray unit includes aplurality of telescoping members forming the upright. Each of several ofthe members supports a tray and the plurality of trays are nestablewithin one another. When the upright is in the collapsed state, theplurality of tray are nested within one another to define a singleuseable tray and when the upright is extended, the trays present aplurality of tiered trays.

Musicians and vocalists who play instruments for musical accompanimentusually do so adjacent a microphone. The musicians usually must carryand have at their disposal various articles attendant to or used inconjunction with the particular musical instrument; in example, picksfor strummed instruments, reeds for various wind instruments, etc.Furthermore, most musicians and vocalists want to keep drinks,cigarettes, etc. within arm's length. Moreover, many musicians use sheetmusic to expand their repertoire or for purposes of accommodatingrequests of their audience.

In the past, the various articles needed were often carried about intheir pockets which made them difficult to reach without interruption orthey were placed upon adjacent chairs, stands or other furnishingswithin arm's reach. The articles often fell off of such furnishings orotherwise became lost. Sheet music was propped up against any readilyavailable furnishings or sheet music stands were employed, which standsimpose upon the musicians' freedom of movement, are awkward to transportfrom engagement to engagement, are misplaced and require floor space notalways available.

The present invention is directed to a tray supportable upon anyupright, such as an already existing microphone stand. The tray isconfigured to retain and prevent loss of the various musical instrumentrelated articles and other things such as, cigarettes, matches,lighters, drinks, etc. Retainers are also provided to retain upright incombination with the microphone stand, sheet music or otherdocumentation useful to the musician during his performance. The trayincludes a clamping mechanism for readily attaching and detaching thetray from the microphone stand whereby it becomes readily transportablefrom location to location.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide adetachably attachable upright supported tray.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensivedetachably attachable tray supportable upon a microphone stand.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a microphonestand supported tray for musicians.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a trayremovably clampable to a microphone stand.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a trayhaving pivotally attached half sections for encircling and beingsupported by a vertical support.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide clampingapparatus for frictionally attaching a tray to an upright.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

The present invention will be described with greater specificity andclarity with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the tray mounted upon amicrophone stand;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view illustrating components of the tray;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 3--3, as shown inFIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 4--4, as shown inFIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a microphone 10 depicted in stylizedform and supported upon a conventional tubular stand 12. Such amicrophone and stand are often used by musicians, whether standing orseated and whether or not they are vocalists or provide their ownmusical accompaniment. To provide a convenient place for keeping variousarticles used by a musician, such as picks, extra guitar strings, reeds,etc., tray 14 is attached to and supported upon stand 12. The tray mayalso serve the function of retaining eyeglasses, drinks, packs ofcigarettes, matches and other articles used from time to time by themusician during an evening's performance. Many musicians, to increasetheir repertoire, use sheet music for melodies or lyrics which have notyet been committed to memory. Accordingly, tray 14 includes retainingelements 16, 18 for engaging the lower edge of sheet music 20. The upperedge of the sheet music rests against stand 12 whereby a three pointsupport for the sheet music is provided.

Referring jointly to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the structural details of tray 14will be described. The tray includes two half sections 22, 24 pivotallyattached to one another by pivot means 26. Edge 28 of half section 22includes an indentation 30 configured to correspond with the exteriorconfiguration of a half cross-section of stand 12. Edge 32 of halfsection 24 includes a similarly configured indentation 34. Theseindentations receive and, when half sections 22 and 24 are joined,encircle stand 12 and serve as the mounting means for the tray. Toprovide sufficient structural integrity and to prevent breaking of themounting means through normal use of tray 14, the mounting means maycomprise half cylindrical sections 36 and 38, the inner surface of whichconforms with indentations 30 and 34, respectively. Webs 38 extendradially from the half cylindrical sections along and attached toundersurface 40 of tray 14. Some additional strength is achieved byradiusing intersection 42 intermediate the exterior surface of halfcylindrical sections 36, 38 and upper surface 44 of tray 14.

The tray itself includes a lip 46 extending along the perimeter. Thislip provides structural integrity to the planar surface of the tray.Additionally, if interior surface 48 of the lip slopes smoothly into andmelds with upper surface 44, as illustrated, the articles placed uponthe tray are easily slid off the tray without the need for picking themup and lifting them off the tray. This benefit is subtle but importantas articles such as picks are difficult to grasp sufficiently well tolift when they rest upon a planar surface.

Although indentations 30 and 34 conform generally relatively closely tothe exterior dimensions of stand 12, some slippage therebetween mayoccur due to wear, nature of surface finish of the stand, etc. Topreclude the possibility of any such slippage, inserts 50 are disposedin each half cylindrical section. Each insert is a length ofcompressible high friction material, such as a strip of rubber. As theinsert extends radially inwardly of the indentation within which it isplaced, it will be compressed upon engagement of the indentation with astand. Such compression will result in substantial frictionalinterference and will preclude both vertical slipping of the tray alongthe stand and rotation of the tray about the longitudinal axis of thestand.

To engage and disengage tray 14 from stand 12, latch means 52 isemployed. The latch means includes a flange 54 depending from halfsection 24 along and bisected by edge 32. A latch 56 includes a basemember 58 and side members 60 and 62 extending from the base member. Theside members are spaced apart from one another so as to slidingly engagethe corresponding sides of flange 54 upon pivotal movement of latch 56about pivot point 64. A further flange 66 is disposed in radialalignment with and outward of flange 54 along edge 32. It is of a widthhalf that of flange 54 and one side of it is coincident with edge 32.

A further flange 68 extends from undersurface 40 of half section 28adjacent edge 28. This flange includes a widened element 70 whichstraddles edge 28 and is of a width equivalent to that of flange 54 andthe spacing intermediate side members 60 and 62 of latch 56. A narrowedelement 72 of flange 68 is one half the width of widened element 70 andterminates commensurate with edge 28. The combined width of flange 66and narrowed element 72 is equivalent to the spacing intermediate sidemembers 60 and 62 of latch 56. The length of widened element 70 iscommensurate with spacing intermediate flange 54 and flange 66.

Upon pivoting of half sections 22 and 24 to bring edges 28 and 32adjacent one another, widened element 70 will nest intermediate flange54 and flange 66 and narrowed element 72 will be located adjacent flange66. Subsequent pivotal movement of latch 56 upwardly toward undersurface40 of tray 14 will engage edges 60 and 62 with opposed sides of flanges54, 68 and 66 and maintain them in alignment with one another. Thereby,the latch easily and readily locks half sections 22 and 24 to oneanother. Unlocking is readily and easily effected by downward pivotalmovement of the latch.

In its most simple form, tray 12 can be readily manufactured from fiveparts. Half section 22, half section 24, latch 56, a pin serving aspivot means 64 and inserts 50. It is presumed that pivot means 26comprises any one of many well known means for effecting pivotalmovement between two parts without the need for pivot pins, bushings,etc. In example, a stud may extend from one half section for snap fitengagement with an aperture formed in the other half section. Theresulting assembly of the parts to form tray 14 is readily and easilyperformable by unskilled workers with only minimal training.

All of the components of tray 14 are readily formable by various plasticmanufacturing techniques, such as injection molding. The use of thesetechniques, in combination with low cost plastic materials, render thecost of manufacture of the components very low. Accordingly, tray 14 iseasily manufacturable, assembleable and is inexpensive.

In use, tray 14 is attached to stand 12 or any upright grippable by theindentations within half cylindrical sections 36, 38. Attachment iseffected by pivoting latch 56 downwardly, pivoting the half sectionsabout pivot point 26 to permit insertion of the stand intermediate edges28, 32 into proximity with the indentations. Thereafter, half sections22 and 24 are pivoted toward one another and clamped to one another bypivoting latch 56 toward undersurface 40. Such pivotal movement of thelatch will cause side members 60 and 62 to lock flange 68 adjacent andintermediate flanges 54 and 66 and the tray becomes mounted upon thestand. Separation of edges 28 and 32 and removal of the tray cannot beeffected except upon pivotal movement of the latch. Disengagement iseffected by simply pivoting latch 56 away from undersurface 40 torelease flange 68. Thereafter, separation of edges 28 and 32 by pivotinghalf sections 22 and 24 away from one another will release stand 12 andthe tray may be removed from thereabout.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in anillustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to thoseskilled in the art many modifications of structure, arrangement,proportions, elements, materials, and components, used in the practiceof the invention which are particularly adapted for specificenvironments and operating requirements without departing from thoseprinciples.

We claim:
 1. A detachably attached tray for uprights, said traycomprising in combination:(a) a first section for defining a part ofsaid tray and including a first edge; (b) a second section for definingthe remaining part of said tray and including a second edge; (c) pivotmeans for pivotally attaching said first section to said second section;(d) mounting means disposed within said first and second edges forencircling the upright on pivoting of said first and second sectionstoward one another to mate said first and second edges; (e) a firstradially oriented flange and a third radially oriented flange dependingfrom said first edge of said first section, said first and third flangesbeing diametrically aligned with one another; (f) a second radiallyoriented flange depending from said second edge of said second section,said second flange being positionable intermediate and in alignment withsaid first and third flanges on mating of said first and second edges;and (g) latch means for engaging said first, second and third flanges tomaintain said second flange intermediate said first and third flangesand preclude pivotal movement of said first and second sections apartfrom one another and maintain said mounting means in engagement with theupright.
 2. The tray as set forth in claim 1 wherein said mounting meansincludes a half cylindrical section attached to each of said first andsecond sections, each said half cylindrical section being orientednormal to the plane of said tray.
 3. The tray as set forth in claim 2including web means interconnecting along radials, each said halfcylindrical section and the undersurface of the attached one of saidfirst and second sections.
 4. The tray as set forth in claim 3 includingretaining elements disposed in said lip for retaining documentation. 5.The tray as set forth in claim 3 including friction means disposed ineach of said indentations for inhibiting slippage between said tray andthe upright.
 6. The tray as set forth in claim 1 wherein said latchmeans comprises a pivotable member for receiving said first, second andthird flanges when aligned with one another and precluding movementthereof to a non-aligned position.
 7. The tray as set forth in claim 6wherein said latch means is pivotally attached to one of said flanges.8. The tray as set forth in claim 3 wherein said latch means comprises apivotable member for receiving said first, second and third flanges whenaligned with one another and precluding movement thereof to anon-aligned position.
 9. The tray as set forth in claim 8 wherein saidlatch means is pivotally attached to one of said flanges.